Food & Politics

True Story - when Seb's sister was here she wanted to buy the same Bare Naked granola we have at home to take back to Hamburg, so we asked the guy at Dominicks to open a new box from the back of the store for us!
We also swim in olive oil at home and I am drinking a Latte RIGHT now!

I don't get to vote for President this primary season.I live in Michigan . The party leaders (both here andin D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus ourvotes will not be counted.

So, if you live in Pennsylvania , can you do me afavor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- onTuesday for Senator Barack Obama?

I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I wouldvote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?;and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat'sass whose name is on the ballot in November, as longas there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey atthe top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" nextto the candidate's name.

Seriously, I know so many people who don't care if thename under the Big "D" is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton orBlitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, BarryObama or the Dalai Lama.

Well, that sounded good last year, but over the pasttwo months, the actions and words of Hillary Clintonhave gone from being merely disappointing to downrightdisgusting. I guess the debate last week was the finalstraw. I've watched Senator Clinton and her husbandplay this game of appealing to the worst side of whitepeople, but last Wednesday, when she hurled the name"Farrakhan" out of nowhere, well that's when the sillyseason came to an early end for me. She said the "F"word to scare white people, pure and simple. Ofcourse, Obama has no connection to Farrakhan. But,according to Senator Clinton, Obama's pastor does --AND the "church bulletin" once included a Los AngelesTimes op-ed from some guy with Hamas! No, not thechurch bulletin!

This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantlyexplained the following night by Stephen Colbert. Hepointed out that if Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy,who is Catholic, and the Catholic Church is led by aPope who was in the Hitler Youth, that can mean onlyone thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER!

Yes, Senator Clinton, that's how you sounded. Like youwere nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires ofstupidity. How sad that I would ever have to writethose words about you. You have devoted your life togood causes and good deeds. And now to throw it allaway for an office you can't win unless you smear theblack man so much that the superdelegates cry "Uncle(Tom)" and give it all to you.

But that can't happen. You cast your die when youvoted to start this bloody war. When you did that youwere like Moses who lost it for a moment and, becauseof that, was prohibited from entering the PromisedLand.

How sad for a country that wanted to see the firstwoman elected to the White House. That day will come-- but it won't be you. We'll have to wait for thecurrent Democratic governor of Kansas to run in 2016(you read it here first!).

There are those who say Obama isn't ready, or he'svoted wrong on this or that. But that's looking at thetrees and not the forest. What we are witnessing isnot just a candidate but a profound, massive publicmovement for change. My endorsement is more for ObamaThe Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.

That is not to take anything away from thisexceptional man. But what's going on is bigger thanhim at this point, and that's a good thing for thecountry. Because, when he wins in November, that ObamaMovement is going to have to stay alert and active.Corporate America is not going to give up their holdon our government just because we say so. PresidentObama is going to need a nation of millions to standbehind him.

I know some of you will say, 'Mike, what have theDemocrats done to deserve our vote?' That's a damngood question. In November of '06, the country loudlysent a message that we wanted the war to end. Yet theDemocrats have done nothing. So why should we be soeager to line up happily behind them?

I'll tell you why. Because I can't stand one morefriggin' minute of this administration and thepermanent, irreversible damage it has done to ourpeople and to this world. I'm almost at the pointwhere I don't care if the Democrats don't have abackbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzylittle heads. Just as long as their name ain't "Bush"and the word "Republican" is not beside theirs on theballot, then that's good enough for me.

I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummeledsenseless for 8 long years. That's why I will joinmillions of citizens and stagger into the voting boothcome November, like a boxer in the 12th round, allbloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut,looking for the only thing that matters -- that big"D" on the ballot.

Don't get me wrong. I lost my rose-colored glasses along time ago.

It's foolish to see the Democrats as anything but anicer version of a party that exists to do the biddingof the corporate elite in this country. Anyendorsement of a Democrat must be done with thisacknowledgement and a hope that one day we will have aparty that'll represent the people first, and lawsthat allow that party an equal voice.

Finally, I want to say a word about the basic decencyI have seen in Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton continues tothrow the Rev. Wright up in his face as part of hermission to keep stoking the fears of White America.Every time she does this I shout at the TV, "Say it,Obama! Say that when she and her husband were havingmarital difficulties regarding Monica Lewinsky, whodid she and Bill bring to the White House for'spiritual counseling?' THE REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT!"

But no, Obama won't throw that at her. It wouldn't beright. It wouldn't be decent. She's been throughenough hurt. And so he remains silent and takes themud she throws in his face.

That's why the crowds who come to see him are solarge. That's why he'll take us down a more decentpath. That's why I would vote for him if Michigan wereallowed to have an election.

But the question I keep hearing is... 'can he win? Canhe win in November?' In the distance we hear the sirenof the death train called the Straight Talk Express.We know it's possible to hear the words "PresidentMcCain" on January 20th. We know there are still manyAmericans who will never vote for a black man. Hillaryknows it, too. She's counting on it.

Pennsylvania , the state that gave birth to this greatcountry, has a chance to set things right. It has nothad a moment to shine like this since 1787 when ourConstitution was written there. In that Constitution,they wrote that a black man or woman was only "threefifths" human. On Tuesday, the good people ofPennsylvania have a chance for redemption.